Get ready to dive into this week’s 10 Things In Marketing Trends. From major acquisitions to platform shifts and guerrilla activations, here are ten confirmed developments from June 21 to 27, with deeper insights and practical takeaways to help you play to win with story-driven strategy.
Table of Contents
- Unilever Acquires Dr Squatch, Underscoring the Power of Social First
- Liquid Death’s Ozzy Osbourne DNA Cans Drive Earned Media Frenzy
- Canva’s Waterloo Station OOH Becomes a Live Product Tutorial
- YouTube Shorts Integrates Veo 3 AI for In-App Video Generation
- Instagram Posts to Be Indexed by Search Engines, Elevating SEO Potential
- Meta Wins Landmark AI Copyright Ruling, Clearing Path for Marketers
- Google Ads Replaces Video Action Campaigns with Demand Gen
- Dove’s #ShareTheFirst Campaign Demonstrates Creator-Led Storytelling
- LinkedIn Introduces First Impression and Expanded CTV Ad Formats
- Netflix’s “Context Not Control”: Empowering Local Marketing Teams Globally
1. Unilever Acquires Dr Squatch, Underscoring the Power of Social First
What Happened
Unilever agreed to purchase men’s grooming brand Dr Squatch for $1.5 billion, adding a social-first, direct-to-consumer business to its portfolio. Dr Squatch rose to prominence through viral digital campaigns and a notable TikTok sketch series featuring Sydney Sweeney.
Why It Matters
This acquisition highlights how combining DTC authenticity with star power can turbocharge growth. By leveraging Sydney Sweeney’s broad entertainment appeal, Dr Squatch demonstrated that tapping cultural icons outside your core category creates unexpected connections and fuels rapid brand discovery among new audiences.
Lessons for Your Brand
- Seek collaborators who introduce your brand to new audiences and amplify your core narrative
- Plan episodic content around each partnership, using multiple formats like short-form video, livestreams, and behind-the-scenes clips
- Track both direct sales and broader engagement metrics—including social mentions and earned-media pickup—to measure partnership ROI
2. Liquid Death’s Ozzy Osbourne DNA Cans Drive Earned Media Frenzy
What Happened
Liquid Death released a limited edition of iced tea cans infused with trace amounts of Ozzy Osbourne’s DNA, sealed in resin and signed by the rock icon. Priced at $450 each, the run sold out immediately upon release.
Why It Matters
By fusing collectible scarcity with celebrity culture and sustainability messaging, Liquid Death turned product packaging into a headline-making activation covered by music outlets, lifestyle blogs, and mainstream press.
Lessons for Your Brand
- Align bold creative stunts with your brand’s identity so they feel authentic rather than gimmicky
- Use scarcity and premium pricing to create urgency and highlight exclusivity
- Leverage PR and influencer seeding to maximize earned-media reach
3. Canva’s Waterloo Station OOH Becomes a Live Product Tutorial
What Happened
Canva took over all 14 billboards at London’s Waterloo Station for three days, running live demonstrations of features like Background Remover and Magic Resize while poking fun at design clichés such as “Can we make the logo any smaller?”
Why It Matters
This campaign showed that out-of-home advertising can be interactive and educational, turning commuters into active participants and driving organic social sharing.
Lessons for Your Brand
- Convert static ad formats into experiential showcases with live or dynamic content
- Encourage instant engagement by embedding QR codes or short URLs linked to free trials or templates
- Amplify offline activations online by collaborating with influencers to capture and share their experiences
4. YouTube Shorts Integrates Veo 3 AI for In-App Video Generation
What Happened
YouTube announced that later this summer, creators will be able to use the Veo 3 AI model directly within Shorts to generate up to 60-second clips from text prompts, complete with licensed music, automated cuts, and transitions.
Why It Matters
This feature lowers the barrier to high-quality short-form video, enabling brands and creators to prototype and publish content at scale without a full production team.
Lessons for Your Brand
- Test different prompt structures, story arcs, listicles, questions, to find the formats that resonate with your audience
- Overlay brand graphics, voiceovers, or custom captions on AI outputs to maintain your unique visual identity
- Establish clear review processes to ensure AI-generated content aligns with brand guidelines and legal requirements
5. Instagram Posts to Be Indexed by Search Engines, Elevating SEO Potential
What Happened
Starting July 10, Google and Bing will index public Instagram posts, Reels, and carousels from professional and creator accounts for the first time.
Why It Matters
Instagram transforms from a closed social network into an SEO channel. Brands can now attract non-Instagram users searching for how-tos, inspiration, or product ideas via search engines.
Lessons for Your Brand
- Write captions like micro-blogs, placing keywords early and adding context before hashtags
- Add detailed alt text to every image; search crawlers will use it to understand and rank your content
- Review your account privacy settings carefully to decide which posts you want indexed publicly
6. Meta Wins Landmark AI Copyright Ruling, Clearing Path for Marketers
What Happened
A U.S. federal judge granted Meta’s summary judgment motion in a lawsuit alleging that training its Llama models on copyrighted books violated fair use, ruling that the training process is transformative.
Why It Matters
This decision provides legal cover for marketers using AI-driven copywriting and summarization tools, affirming that transformative AI training on copyrighted works can qualify as fair use—although appeals may follow.
Lessons for Your Brand
- Update your AI governance policies to reflect this ruling and track any appellate developments
- Maintain clear records of data sources and transformation processes to support fair-use claims
- Label AI-assisted content where appropriate and educate stakeholders on your compliance measures
7. Google Ads Replaces Video Action Campaigns with Demand Gen
What Happened
On July 1, Google will begin auto-upgrading Video Action Campaigns to the new Demand Gen format, which blends video, image, and carousel ads across YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and the Display Network.
Why It Matters
Demand Gen uses Google’s latest AI to dynamically select the best asset mix and placements for each user, simplifying management and improving performance across multiple channels.
Lessons for Your Brand
- Audit your existing video campaigns and gather a broad set of creative assets—headlines, descriptions, images, and video cuts—to feed into Demand Gen
- Leverage first-party data like customer lists and site-visitor audiences to guide the AI toward your highest-value segments
- Monitor performance closely after the upgrade and adjust your creative inputs and audience signals as needed
8. Dove’s #ShareTheFirst Campaign Demonstrates Creator-Led Storytelling
What Happened
On June 24, Dove launched #ShareTheFirst, its first campaign entirely driven by a network of 50 micro-creators invited to share personal beauty-first memories. Assets rolled out across Instagram, YouTube, and an out-of-home installation at London’s Liverpool Street station designed to mimic a scrolling camera feed.
Why It Matters
By shifting significant media spend to creator-generated content and cutting agency review cycles to 48 hours, Dove delivered highly authentic narratives that resonated with younger audiences and sparked broad social conversation.
Lessons for Your Brand
- Empower creators with clear brand pillars but give them freedom to tell personal stories
- Streamline your approval workflows to respond rapidly to cultural moments
- Bridge digital and physical by extending social campaigns into experiential installations
9. LinkedIn Introduces First Impression and Expanded CTV Ad Formats
What Happened
On June 26, LinkedIn rolled out First Impression Ads—vertical video placements guaranteed as the very first ad in a user’s session—and expanded its Connected TV inventory through partners Innovid and Paramount.
Why It Matters
These premium formats give B2B marketers undivided attention for flagship launches, thought-leadership stories, and employer-brand narratives on both mobile devices and living-room screens.
Lessons for Your Brand
- Reserve First Impression placements for your biggest announcements such as CEO interviews or research reveals
- Craft CTV spots with clear narrative arcs that unfold over 15 to 30 seconds to leverage the larger screen format
- Layer in precise targeting—job function, company size, first-party data segments—to maximize relevance and ROI
10. Netflix’s “Context Not Control”: Empowering Local Marketing Teams Globally
What Happened
Netflix continues to reinforce its “context, not control” principle—sharing critical data and strategic context across the organization so that local marketing teams in markets like Canada, Latin America, Europe, and Asia can tailor campaigns without waiting on central approval.
Why It Matters
By decentralizing decision-making and equipping regional teams with transparency and purpose, Netflix drives both speed and cultural relevance. Local teams can launch nuanced, market-specific iterations of global campaigns in days rather than weeks.
Lessons for Your Brand
- Provide local teams with clear objectives, guiding principles, and the data they need to succeed
- Decentralize decision-making by appointing “informed captains” who own regional campaigns
- Balance freedom with responsibility by reinforcing brand guardrails and expected outcomes
Key Marketing Trends Summary
This week’s marketing landscape has highlighted several critical trends that demand immediate attention and strategic adaptation from brands aiming to play to win.
The Ascendancy of Authentic, Social-First Engagement: Brands like Dr. Squatch and Liquid Death are demonstrating that unconventional, humor-driven, and highly authentic content, deeply embedded in social media culture, can drive exponential growth and even multi-billion-dollar acquisitions. This prioritizes genuine connection over polished perfection.
AI’s Transformative Role in Search and Advertising: Google’s AI Mode and AI Max are fundamentally reshaping SEO and paid visibility. Marketers must now optimize for “answer engines” and adapt to a hybrid model where AI automates, but human strategy guides, demanding a re-evaluation of keyword strategies and content authority.
The Power of Experiential and Problem-Solution Marketing: Canva’s OOH campaign and Liquid Death’s stunts illustrate that creative, relatable, and often humorous approaches to advertising, whether by directly addressing pain points or crafting memorable experiences, effectively cut through noise and foster deep audience connection.
Data as the New Currency, First-Party Data as the Moat: The impending cookieless future makes robust first-party data collection and strategic data management non-negotiable. Brands that can ethically gather and leverage their own customer insights will gain a significant advantage in personalization and targeting.
The Strategic Imperative for ROI Measurement: Despite its critical importance to leadership, many marketers still struggle to demonstrate clear ROI. This highlights an urgent need for better metrics, multi-touch attribution, and the ability to articulate marketing’s tangible impact on business outcomes.
Cultural Relevance and Niche Dominance: The digital growth of women’s sports and Nutella’s localized innovation underscore the importance of understanding specific cultural shifts and regional preferences. Brands that align with emerging movements or tailor offerings to niche demands can unlock new growth.
Organizational Agility in Global Marketing: Netflix’s “context not control” model demonstrates the power of empowering local teams for greater cultural relevance and responsiveness, a crucial lesson for global brands navigating diverse markets.
Ready to Take Action
Want to learn more about how these trends can impact your company? Schedule a free marketing check up call with our Cadico team. We’ll review your current strategy, identify opportunities and share actionable insights tailored to your goals.
Want to learn more? Click here to read in-depth on everything from this week.
Unilever Acquires Dr Squatch
https://www.ft.com/content/ac369fd5-308a-43a7-b86d-c41fde34156aDr Squatch TikTok Campaign Featuring Sydney Sweeney
https://www.ft.com/content/ac369fd5-308a-43a7-b86d-c41fde34156aLiquid Death’s Ozzy Osbourne DNA Cans Launch
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/liquid-death-launches-ozzy-osbourne-dna-cans-priced-450-each-2025-06-25/Canva’s Waterloo Station Digital Takeover
https://lbbonline.com/news/Canva-Goes-Big-with-Playful-Takeover-at-London-Waterloo-with-Stink-StudiosGoogle Ads Auto-Upgrades Video Action Campaigns to Demand Gen
https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/15110871?hl=enYouTube Shorts Adds Veo 3 AI Video Generation
https://www.theverge.com/2025/06/17/youtube-shorts-veo-3-ai-video-generationInstagram Content Indexing by Google and Bing
https://www.seozoom.com/instagram-google-indexing/Meta Wins Fair-Use Ruling in AI Copyright Lawsuit
https://www.reuters.com/technology/meta-wins-ai-copyright-lawsuit-2025-06-23/Dove’s #ShareTheFirst Creator-Led Campaign
https://www.marketingdive.com/news/how-doves-first-creator-led-campaign-paves-way-forward-for-unilever/749507/LinkedIn First Impression and Expanded CTV Ads
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/linkedin-introduces-first-impression-ads-single-day-vertical-myybf/Netflix’s “Context Not Control” Leadership Strategy
https://www.forbes.com/sites/chriswestfall/2025/05/14/netflix-leadership-strategy-built-on-transparency-information-sharing/
